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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Joy Padgett Appears to be Ineligible to Run

While election officials are examining whether Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-Ohio) hand-picked successor is eligible to run for his seat in the fall, some political insiders are noting that a somewhat similar effort by another Ohio candidate for Congress was rejected last month.

Charles Morrison, a former Republican, was barred in July by the Franklin County Board of Elections from running as an independent against Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy under the section of Ohio election law known as the "sore loser" provision.

This section states no individual who seeks a party nomination in the primary election by "declaration of candidacy or by declaration of intent to be a write in candidate" is permitted to run in the general election for any other office, other than a member of a board of education or a "township trustee."

Ney's pick to take his seat in the 18th District, Ohio state Sen. Joy Padgett (R), lost her bid for lieutenant governor in the Ohio primary in May 2006, which could bring her under the provision.

It appears pretty cut and dry to me, so unless there is some unknown loophole that lawyers can exploit, Sen. Padgett cannot run.

7 comments:

"...no individual who seeks a party nomination in the primary election by "declaration of candidacy or by declaration of intent to be a write in candidate" is permitted to run in the general election for any other office..."

I really don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me that Lieutenant Governor is an appointed office, not a declared candidacy...that is probably the technicality that is being explored. Although, I really don't think there is enough time to get a ruling on this...

In the general election for governor and lieutenant governor, one vote shall be cast jointly for the candidates nominated by the same political party or petition. The General Assembly shall provide by law for the nomination of candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

A whole lot of lawyers are going to make a whole lot of money figuring this out. Is a "joint vote" a vote?

It really isn't the vote that matters so much as the "candidacy" question...at least, that's the way I read this thing going down...but you are right, there is going to be some lawyering on this and I don't think it can be resolved in time...